Question about Jason Hart's Big Boss article

- Director Lo Wei: "The hero of The Big Boss is an energetic young man. When such a man prepares to kill the villain at any cost, he naturally will want to give vent to his desire. So, he goes to the whorehouse and makes love to a prostitute."

What is the source of this quote, specifically? Is it from an interview on a TV show or magazine? Unfortunately the article neglects to clarify the origin of Lo Wei's quote, so I just wanna know where it comes from. If anyone can tell me, that would be great.

- Director Lo Wei: "The hero of The Big Boss is an energetic young man. When such a man prepares to kill the villain at any cost, he naturally will want to give vent to his desire. So, he goes to the whorehouse and makes love to a prostitute."

What is the source of this quote, specifically? Is it from an interview on a TV show or magazine? Unfortunately the article neglects to clarify the origin of Lo Wei's quote, so I just wanna know where it comes from. If anyone can tell me, that would be great.

That probably came from a particular issue on "The Big Boss" of the 70s HK BL Club magazine.

The magazine article originally came from the newspaper interview (mainly Ming Pao, Sing Do Daily, Fai Bo etc.) of Lo Wei after the preview of The Big Boss in late 1971. As the Hong Kong people were quite conservative then, many audience including the news reporters could not understand why their hero, Cheng (played by Bruce Lee) had to visit the whorehouse and made love to the prostitute before the big fight. Lo Wei explained to the news reporters using the above excuses you mentioned.

Bruce jokingly told his wife (when they saw those whorehouse scenes in the preview) that it was a "fringe benefit."

While the tastefulness of such a scene is debatable (Cheng has a love interest, and she remains captive in the Boss' house while he is literally busy at the brothel), I feel it adds A LOT to the character, and without it, you lose the complete animalism of Cheng. He's found his family brutally slaughtered and he's ready to seek revenge, and he doesn't care if he dies in the process.

He figures, from sort of a spiritual rebirth perspective, he might as well go to the brothel to re-establish his masculinity. The prostitute gleefully provides him with the emotional and physical comfort he desired, even if said comforts only give him a temporary peace of mind, but nonetheless, Cheng metamorphosizes from a farm boy into a warrior, and the personality difference shows in the final fight.

That's some extremely interesting characterization, and watching Bruce's performance, going from the naive simpleton in the beginning who awkwardly steals glances at Maria Yi to the confident protector of the family to, finally, the avenger, makes for very exciting viewing.

Anyway, I hope Jason updates the article to include a mention of the HK BL Club magazine you brought up.

That probably came from a particular issue on "The Big Boss" of the 70s HK BL Club magazine.

The magazine article originally came from the newspaper interview (mainly Ming Pao, Sing Do Daily, Fai Bo etc.) of Lo Wei after the preview of The Big Boss in late 1971. As the Hong Kong people were quite conservative then, many audience including the news reporters could not understand why their hero, Cheng (played by Bruce Lee) had to visit the whorehouse and made love to the prostitute before the big fight. Lo Wei explained to the news reporters using the above excuses you mentioned.

Bruce jokingly told his wife (when they saw those whorehouse scenes in the preview) that it was a "fringe benefit."

Is there any documentation regarding which track from Wang Fu-ling's score of the Big Boss (the one featured in the 1971 Hong Kong debut) was playing during the sequence of Cheng returning to the brothel to "get busy"?

That probably came from a particular issue on "The Big Boss" of the 70s HK BL Club magazine.

The magazine article originally came from the newspaper interview (mainly Ming Pao, Sing Do Daily, Fai Bo etc.) of Lo Wei after the preview of The Big Boss in late 1971. As the Hong Kong people were quite conservative then, many audience including the news reporters could not understand why their hero, Cheng (played by Bruce Lee) had to visit the whorehouse and made love to the prostitute before the big fight. Lo Wei explained to the news reporters using the above excuses you mentioned.

Bruce jokingly told his wife (when they saw those whorehouse scenes in the preview) that it was a "fringe benefit."

I don't quite have the 70s HK BL Club magazine issue in hand as of yet.....but apparently, some of its content made its way to the UK Bruce Lee & JKD poster no. 4 issue.

The article in itself is rather mediocre, but its from there that Jason originally got the Lo Wei quote.

My friend (who's in possession of said BL & JKD mag) doesn't have a scanner set up, so for the time being these phone pics will have to do.

Also bear in mind that it appears the writers directly translated from the original Cantonese to English word by word, which is why the article comes off as awkward and seemingly conflates the earlier brothel scene with the latter, more infamous one.

It's a long shot and perhaps a bit of an overreach, but do you have any of these 71 HK newspapers and mags? I'd be interested in reading what they have to say concerning the BB and it's missing scenes. Cheers.